Saturday
May 11, 2024 
“A W.A.S.P. Takes Wing,” a program about the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, hosted by the Yardley Historical Association at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, will take place at the Old Library by Lake Afton, 46 W. Afton Ave. in Yardley.
Carol Simon Levin will share the story of the W.A.S.P.s through the eyes of Ann Baumgartner Carl, the New Jersey girl who trained as a W.A.S.P. and became the only American woman to test-fly experimental planes during the war and the first American woman to fly a jet airplane.
During Word War II, more than 1,000 women volunteers completed the W.A.S.P military pilot training program. They endured terrible Texas weather, snakes, and scorpions, as well as the hostility of some male instructors.
The graduates flew every kind of military aircraft, delivered more than 12,000 planes and flew over 60 million miles, sometimes towing targets that soldiers shot at with live ammunition. Thirty-eight of them died serving their country, then they were told that men needed the jogs and were dismissed.
Levin is a professional storyteller, historian and author who specializes in telling the stories of “fascinating women history forgot” through first-person portrayals.
For information about this program or other activities of the Yardley Historical Association, call 215-208-1154, e-mail info@yardleyhistory.org, or visit yardleyhistory.org.
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